Spillbox.app stores your notes on your device by default. When you create a note, it is written to a database on your device before anything else happens. If you never enable sync or note forwarding, your notes never leave your device.
Why we built it this way: We designed Spillbox.app with strict privacy at its core simply because we, personally, needed a place that we can trust to put our own messy, unfiltered thoughts. We wouldn't use a tool that reads our private notes, so we didn't build one.
What "local-first" means in practice
- You don't need an account to use the app. There is no sign-up, no email address, and no password required.
- The app works offline. You can capture notes on an airplane, in a tunnel, or anywhere without a connection.
- Your data is yours, instantly. Because your notes live on your device, exporting them is immediate. You never have to submit a data request to a server and wait for a zip file in your email. You can generate an open-format backup directly from the app whenever you need it.
Sync is opt-in
If you want your notes available on multiple devices, you can enable sync. Sync is end-to-end encrypted by default, meaning your notes are encrypted on your device before being transmitted. The server never holds your plaintext notes.
You choose where your encrypted notes are stored/relayed: through the Spillbox.app sync service, a self-hosted option, or a decentralized protocol.
Integrations and data transfer
When you enable an integration like Notion, you are explicitly choosing to forward specific data to that service. The app always makes this transfer visible and configurable. You can disable any integration at any time.
The app will never send your notes to any external service without your explicit action or permission.